This month I am sharing a project I’ve been working on with a group of organisers and volunteers - it’s called Restless Brussels.
Restless Brussels is a series of events, resources and a growing community that aims to bring international people in Brussels a bit closer to the city. We learn about the issues facing and forces transforming the city by meeting the people working on them - in politics, activism, academia, business and more.
To follow the project, receive invitations to events and get involved, you can sign up to the mailing list on our website restless.brussels. Huge shout out to the man who built the website, Paweł Kamil Krawczyk, who is available for projects building websites of all sizes, for all sorts of organisations.
But maybe you’re wondering - why are we doing this? And if you live in Brussels, why should you join us?
THE PROBLEM
I have lived in Brussels for the best part of a decade. I have come to love the city, but I don’t always feel a part of it in the same way I felt a part of my hometown. At a certain point I felt like Brussels was happening around me. I wanted to understand and contribute to my new home, but I wasn’t sure where to start.
Brussels is an incredibly diverse city, with large diasporas of French, Moroccan, Dutch, Italian, Romanian, Polish and many other backgrounds. In fact, seven in ten people in Brussels were not born with Belgian nationality - so ironically the minorities are the majority. Of those immigrants, approximately 200,000 to 280,000 came to Brussels for the same reason I did: to work and live in and around the international institutions.
This demographic group, often colloquially referred to as “the Bubble” due to its parallel life within the city, is one that might strike you as naturally curious and civically engaged. They are generally interested in politics and policy, educated and of the profile you would expect to engage with public life in any other context. Despite this, their engagement remains relatively low, with only 17% turning out for the last local elections.
So I asked myself - what were the barriers that this group was facing?
THE BARRIERS
After speaking with people and looking at data on the topic, it seems the barriers to participation can be distilled down to three areas (in no particular order).
Language - some are self-conscious about engaging publicly in what is often their second, third or even fourth language, while others might struggle with technical and specific language.
Knowledge - the technical complexity of local governance and participation in the city, its division of responsibilities, not knowing the ways that one can engage with the city and a lack of context for their engagement.
Mandatory voting - despite the fines being exceedingly rare, people are intimidated by the fact that once they register to vote they might be liable for a fine.
My theory is that if you overcome the first two barriers, the desire to engage with the city will make the last one redundant.
THE RESPONSE
The way we can do that is by supporting people in building a long lasting, deep connection with the city - providing friendly, patient and thoughtful spaces for them to engage in a meaningful way with issues that matter to them: schools, housing, public transport, accessibility, local environment, parks and recreations, safety in the streets and more.
So how do we do that with Restless Brussels? We provide three things:
Moments where we can meet the people and learn about the forces shaping the city.
Membership of a curious community we can share, learn and collaborate with.
Pathways and resources for them to follow up on what interests us - whether an action to take, an NGO to volunteer for or a cause to support.
The ethos behind this is one of positive engagement, humility and inclusion. We are part of the city, but we don’t necessarily understand it completely (it’s Brussels - who does?). We try to connect with and learn from those who can give us a deeper understanding, and support those trying to improve things. This involves connecting with influential people (like mayors and other public representatives, advisers, activists, community leaders, thinkers, etc.), but also listening to other communities and points of view in the city.
This community is not a bubble within a bubble. It is a doorway to becoming active citizens of Brussels, connecting with other communities and making an impact on the place where we live.
THE STRUCTURE
This activity manifests in meetings and events. It normally takes one of several forms, but can be anything.
City events - large events discussing an issue of city-wide relevance - our first event was with Bart Dhondt, Brussels City Vice-Mayor and Alderman for Mobility, on the implementation of the Good Move mobility plan.
Community meetings - medium-sized events discussing an issue in a particular neighbourhood, with a flexible format that ranges from presentations to walking tours. One of our most successful formats so far have been workshops in Forest and Brussels Centre on the theme of “Tools to improve your neighbourhood”.
Topical events - medium-sized events that focus on a particular topic - for example, we hosted a Monday evening online chat on Brussels Voice, choosing the time and format to maximise accessibility for a diverse audience.
Friend and neighbour events - small scale events that one can host themselves, including dinners, book clubs and conversation salons. We have provided speakers and experts for a number of dinner conversations.
These sessions do not organise themselves, so we rely on a network of volunteers, supporters and allies to help us. We refer to these people as Community Organisers and they are the backbone of Restless Brussels. Some organise or host one event, others may enjoy it so much they do several.
To support our Community Organisers, we provide resources such as:
Website as an anchor point for activities and promotion.
Promotion via our mailing list.
Resources (check lists, recommendations on event spaces, etc.)
Contacts for speakers.
Connections with allies who might be interested in collaborating on a topic or in a neighbourhood.
THE ACHIEVEMENTS
So it turns out that there are many people who feel the same way as me - people who want to grow closer to the city but haven’t quite found the right way to do so.
Since May, we have organised one large event, three neighbourhood meetings, two dinners and one online session - but the real value is in the connections made and new relationships emerging from these meetings.
We’ve seen volunteers join local NGOs, a couple of neighbourhood WhatsApp groups set up and plenty of new people signing up to learn about their city - to the extent that I need to switch over to a more official newslettering system shortly, because Gmail thinks I’m spamming people from my personal account.
The outreach from the Brussels political and civil society community has been exciting too. Everyone is excited about these new conversations, so we have lots of speakers ready to go for events of all sizes and ideas for various formats.
Across the board the participants have been very positive about the experience and appreciated a way to connect with the city in a positive and productive way - and one that gives space for learning and growth. One of the particularly nice (and unexpected!) developments has been the interest of native Bruxellois(es), who have been enjoying discussions and injecting a wealth of knowledge and experience into our conversations.
And (critically) I’ve been enjoying it immensely, which is good, because it’s a lot of work and it would be depressing otherwise.
If this sounds like a project that appeals to you, sign up to the mailing list - and if you’re interested in helping out and organising something in your community, get in touch!
With thanks to the organisers, speakers and participants!
“As a journalist covering the city, it’s been a great excuse to meet and have interesting discussions with decision makers, as well as a way to sharpen my live interview skills.”
Maïthé Chini, Journalist and Community Organiser
“After one of the first Restless Brussels talks on mobility issues we immediately saw a positive impact. Some people were even inspired to join the NGO Heroes for Zero and start their own action group in Uccle.”
Harold Habousha, Local Activist and Community Organiser
“I was invited to a dinner discussion with a group of Restless Brusselers. It was really great to meet a group of engaged and interested city residents from the international community and share our vision for the city and hear their reactions!"
Stefan Vandenhende, Adviser to Elke Van den Brandt, Regional Minister for Mobility, Public Works and Road Security
fascinating project Tom, that's great to read. I'll share with all my Brussels-based friends (I'm not living there anymore). I like the diversity in the format of the events. I'm curious about the 'tools to improve your neighbourhood' - is there anything I can steal for my own community organising work? Lots of respect and all the best for this community!
Fascinating project, well done! I will follow your newsletters. Maybe a bad idea but you could link to your Substack or to another platform on the website https://restless.brussels/ so that people can interract with you or share your publication.